Southern ordered to pay legal fees in public records lawsuit

Jan. 16, 2018

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A judge has ordered Southern University to pay more than $13,000 in attorney's fees and court costs to a Louisiana newspaper and television station that sued for access to public records.

The Advocate and WBRZ-TV sued Southern's board of supervisors in August after the Baton Rouge university refused to turn over records related to its investigation of a law clinic director at Southern University Law Center. The investigation centered on a will that the clinic director drafted for an elderly woman who died last March.

The university initially balked at releasing the records but relented after the clinic director's attorney waived any privacy rights.

The Advocate reports that state District Judge Timothy Kelley ruled Tuesday that Southern owes more than $12,000 in fees plus roughly $1,000 in court costs.